Truex’s Charge Halted After Contact with Infamous Darlington Wall

April 13, 2014

Martin Truex Jr. was cruising in the top-15 in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway. But on Lap 266 of 374 he made contact with the infamous Darlington wall, which resulted in an unscheduled green-flag pit stop for quick repairs and four fresh tires.

The incident put Truex three laps down and when the checkered flag waved he was credited with a 27th-place finish.

“I thought we had a shot of having a breakthrough race tonight, but it just didn’t turn out that way,” said a disappointed Truex. “The pit crew was on top of their game again and if things worked in our favor I felt we had a potential top-10 car. But the Darlington wall that has slapped so many cars over the years got us tonight.”

Truex, who started the Bojangles' Southern 500 from the 12th position, consistently ran in the top-15, and at times flirted with the top-10.

“Grip was a big issue tonight and we made a number of changes throughout the race to counter the changing conditions,” explained Truex. “The car was getting better and I was looking forward to an exciting finish. But once our Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet hit the wall it was the end of what could have been a pretty good day for our Furniture Row Racing team.”